Thursday, June 28, 2012

Amba Accreditation Process

There are many accrediting agencies for online MBA course. One of these agencies is the Association of MBAs, or more popularly known as AMBA. This article is about how AMBA accredit its MBA programs.

The Association of MBAs, or AMBA in short, was established in 1967 by eight MBA graduates from Wharton and Harvard. The association is the advocate of MBA and they provide accreditation services for MBA programmes for course providers throughout the world.

The accreditation service provided by AMBA is internationally recognised as an acceptable global standard for all Masters of Business Administration (MBA), Doctorates in Business Administration (DBA) and Masters in Business and Management (MBM) programmes. Their accrediting services currently covers MBA, DBA and MBM programmes at 145 business schools in 68 countries.

AMBA offers independent quality assessment on online MBA course offered by providers. They are focused on international accreditation and design their criteria to be applicable to business schools around the world.

AMBA began their MBA accreditation services since the early 1980s. They are currently accredit MBA programs at more than 140 schools in over 65 countries, worldwide. Any college who wished to have their online MBA course accredited are advised to contact the association directly.

AMBA's latest accreditation criteria, was launched in March 2005, and focus on every aspects of MBA course provision, including online MBA course. In the context of an online MBA course, these accreditation criteria include:

The College or University offering the online MBA course

The college or university offering an accredited MBA program should have a clear strategy and mission. AMBA require that this college or university have very clear understanding of the market for the online MBA course that they offers.

The Faculty offering the online MBA course

The faculty that offers the Masters of Business Administration courses, including Online MBA Course, should be have sufficient resources for all its activities. The faculty should ensure the institution is of national or international standing.

Students of the Online MBA Course

AMBA requires that the college or university offering the accredited MBA programs show evidence on admission standards, which should include academic criteria and work experience. AMBA also has a criteria for some minimal intake of MBA students per year.

Curriculum of the Online MBA Course

AMBA requires that the curriculum of the accredited MBA programs to be generalist in nature and cover core business skills. These include marketing, economic and legal environment, accounting, finance, organisational theory and etc. This online MBA course curriculum should also reflect international aspect of business, and should also pay attention to ethical and social issues.

Assessment on the Online MBA Course

Assessment refers to the learning outcomes of the online MBA course.

The followings describe the accreditation process for an MBA program.

The first step of the accreditation process involves an initial discussion with the college or university seeking accreditation for its MBA program. The second step involves self-audit. Once the self-audit is satisfactory conducted, the institution shall request for an assessment visit.

The next step involves the assessment visit by AMBA. The assessment team comprise of four to five members from AMBA. This assessment team is always mutually agreed with the Institution.

Following the assessment visit, a report is prepared for the Association's International Accreditation Advisory Board (IAAB), which will recommend if the institution seeking accreditation may be accredited or not. Accreditation is valid for a period up to a maximum of five years after which the institution would be invited to submit an application for re-accreditation.

With an understanding on how AMBA accredits its MBA programs, we trust that you are able to choose your Online MBA Course wisely.

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